The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is one of the world’s largest international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (INGO), at work in more than 40 countries and more than 25 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities. A force for humanity, IRC employees delivers lasting impact by restoring safety, dignity and hope to millions. If you’re a solutions-driven, passionate change-maker, come join us in positively impacting the lives of millions of people world-wide for a better future.
Job Overview:
The Senior Manager, Procurement of Medical, WASH and NFI Commodities is responsible for the global procurement of medical commodities including pharmaceuticals, medical consumables, medical equipment, laboratory items nutrition commodities, as well as the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) commodities and non-food items (NFI) categories. The position is also the operator for any global emergency pre-positioned stock. Across these categories the scope of the role includes strategic sourcing, negotiation, and effective vendor management considering the total spend of the organization. The role establishes and maintains strong external partnerships with vendors and other organizations and develops and implements critical initiatives within the medical commodity category and WASH and NFI categories. Finally, the role has substantial scope to troubleshoot issues for Country Programs (CPs) and support emergency response.
Major Responsibilities:
Key Responsibilities: Procurement of Medical, Nutrition, WASH and NFI Commodities
• Collaborate with internal requestors such as program leads, country programs and the wider GSC team to align procurement strategies with organizational goals. Collaborate with them to develop and maintain an up-to-date procurement plan with all quantities, quality and delivery requirements for health products and services.
• Responsible for strategic sourcing of medical, nutrition, WASH and NFI commodities, including market research, cost estimates, solicitation documents, bidding process facilitation, supplier identification and research, quality and availability of goods assessment, negotiation, contract/purchase order and other documents preparation. Communicate with other procurement staff and various program and operations units to coordinate and track goods/services delivery and receipt and keep everyone informed of the status. Collect information to confirm that goods/services delivered are what have been ordered in the correct quantities and quality, they arrive on schedule and at the right cost.
• Ensure compliance with IRC procurement policies and procedures, regulatory requirements and industry and donor standards for the procurement of medical, nutrition, WASH and NFI commodities Cultivate and maintain strong relationships with vendors and internal requestors, particularly Pharma/Health Technical Advisors, fostering teamwork and resolving issues promptly.
• Analyze and report global and country spend data on an agreed regular basis.
• Conduct regular market research, analyze trends, and forecast demand for medical commodities to optimize procurement strategies.
• Ensure that Essential Drug Lists and lists of waived additional items are communicated to Global vendors.
• Collaborate with Master Data Management to maintain accurate master data within Integra.
• Work diligently and proactively with IRCs AP department and CP staff to ensure payments are made on time to vendors.
• Play an active role in emergency procurement in support of emergency responses.
• Accountable for transparency within the procurement department through ensuring a complete, accurate and up-to-date document trail of each procurement’s lifecycle as defined by IRC policy and procedure. Prepare reports, procurement files and facilitate document retrieval when requested.
Key Responsibilities: Capacity Building and Subject Matter Expertise
• Support the country procurement teams during country program led procurements.
• Serve as subject matter specialist to HQ and Country Program Supply Chain staff on pharmaceutical regulations, donor compliance, importation, and sourcing from Global vendors.
• Represent IRC GSC in external forums as required.
• Provide procurement advice and capacity building to both procurement and non-procurement staff at HQ and in country programs. Travel to various country program locations worldwide to support joint learning, relationship building to continuously improve the procurement lifecycle.
• Provide support in the development and delivery of procurement trainings to close identified gaps.
Key Responsibilities: Emergency Pre-Positioned Stock
• Strategic sourcing of supplies for stocks required for Emergency response in these named categories.
• Assist the organization’s pre-positioning stock strategy.
Key Working Relationships:
**• Position Reports to:**Senior Director, Global Supply Chain Procurement with a technical MIP to the Director, Emergency & Health Supply Chain
• Position directly supervises: N/A
Other Internal and/or external contacts:
**• Internal:**Close working relationship with Senior Manager Quality Assurance and Pharma Technical Advisors. Regular relationships with regional and country Supply Chain staff at all levels and Deputy Director of Operations. Interacts with IRC Program departments and technical units and advisors. Actively participates in global and regional supply chain, conferences, and leading sessions as the need arises.
**• External:**May Serve as IRC Supply Chain representative in outside meetings, other non-governmental organizations, inter-agency groups and foundations.
Job Requirements:
Essential Qualifications
• Undergraduate degree in supply chain management, pharmacy, business administration or other related degree, or equivalent additional experience.
• Minimum 6 years of experience working in public procurement for an international organization. At least 2 of these years need to be working in the category of health or medical commodities.
• Demonstrated understanding of donor procurement regulations, particularly USAID, ECHO, FCDO, and
• Proficient in MS Office package (Excel, Word, PowerPoint).
• Ability to speak French, Arabic or Spanish is not required but a plus.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
• Knowledge of medical logistics and pharmaceutical supply chain systems in developing contexts as well as developments and trends within pharmaceuticals industry
• Knowledge of pharmaceutical management processes, such as vendor prequalification, quality assurance and control, cold chain storage, distribution, and pharmacovigilance.
• Good planning and coordination skills and ability to prioritize competing priorities effectively.
• Good analytical skills with ability to make independent judgments and decisions.
• Proactive, results-oriented, and service-oriented with focus on meeting requestor needs. Proven interpersonal and relationship management skills with requestors and vendors alike.
• Ethical conduct in accordance with recognized professional and organizational codes of ethics.
• Good negotiation, communication, and relationship management skills.
Preferred Qualifications and Skills
• Professional certification in a related field
• Experience operating in a business system.
• Experience using Power BI or related data visualization software.
• Extensive knowledge of pharmaceuticals related quality systems such as GDP, GMP, and ISO 9000 series
Working Environment:
Standard office work environment.
Compensation:
Posted pay ranges apply to US and UK-based candidates. Ranges are based on various factors including the labor market, job type, internal equity, and budget. Exact offers are calibrated by work location, individual candidate experience and skills relative to the defined job requirements.
US Benefits:
The IRC offers a comprehensive and highly competitive set of benefits. All US employees are eligible for sick time, a 403b retirement savings plans: up to 4.5% immediately vested matching contribution, plus an 3-7% additional IRC contribution, and an Employee Assistance Program which is available to our staff and their families to support in times of crisis and mental health struggles.
In addition, full-time employees are eligible for 10 US paid holidays, 20-25 paid time off days, disability & life insurance, medical, dental, and vision insurance (employee contribution starting at $135, $7, and $5 per month respectively) and FSA for healthcare, childcare, and commuter costs. Part-time employees are eligible for a proportionate amount of paid time off. These additional benefits apply to employees who work at least 6 months within a 12 month time period.
**Standard of Professional Conduct:**The IRC and the IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way – our Code of Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Accountability, and Equality.
Commitment to Gender, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion: The IRC is committed to creating a diverse, inclusive, respectful, and safe work environment where all persons are treated fairly, with dignity and respect. The IRC expressly prohibits and will not tolerate discrimination, harassment, retaliation, or bullying of the IRC persons in any work setting. We aim to increase the representation of women, people that are from country and communities we serve, and people who identify as races and ethnicities that are under-represented in global power structures.